NyQuil

I am a writer, journalist, professor, systems modeler, computational and digital health expert, avocado-eater, and entrepreneur, not always in that order.

Nevertheless, the emergency room visits for Benadryl overdoses have shown that at least some people may trying such social media challenges. All of this led to the [FDA on September 24, 2020, specifically warning the public](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-warns-about-serious-problems-high-doses-allergy-medicine-diphenhydramine-benadryl) about the dangers of taking diphenhyrdamine in ways that don’t match the label. You never know when people are staging what they are doing on social media because, surprise, surprise, people can fake things. The labels on Nyquil do not say, “inhale this” or “take as much as you want and don’t keep track of the amount.” And don’t expect those watching online to do anything since these days you can’t tell what online is real or not. And in this case, OTC does not stand for “Oh That’s Candy” you or “Ok To Consume.” Instead, OTC medications are over-the-counter medications, as in medications that don’t require a doctor’s prescription and thus have become all-too-common in homes, apartments, condos, man-caves, and other living quarters. If you and anyone you know has taken too much medication as evidenced by hallucinations, breathing problems, seizures, loss of consciousness, someone telling you, “dude, that is really a lot of medications,” or other signs and symptoms, don’t simply say YOLO. As long as something is readily accessible, chances are that someone somewhere is going to try to find new ways to use it on social media. If you’ve taken diphenhydramine to the point that you are seeing imaginary things, that’s a medical emergency. Well, even if you don’t end up eating the chicken and thus the medication, you would essentially be giving yourself some Nyquil aromatherapy because the vapor would be in the air to be inhaled. Plus, diphenhydramine-induced hallucinations ain’t the same as imagining that you are on the top of the world after eating avocado toast. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has felt the need to issue a warning](https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/recipe-danger-social-media-challenges-involving-medicines) about the dangers of doing such things.

Cooking poultry in cold medicine is a bad, dangerous idea that few people seemed to be aware of until the government warning attracted media coverage.

The F.D.A. “The F.D.A. cited a “ [Benadryl challenge](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-warns-about-serious-problems-high-doses-allergy-medicine-diphenhydramine-benadryl)” from 2020 that reportedly caused [at least one teenager’s death](https://kfor.com/news/local/dangerous-benadryl-challenge-on-tik-tok-blamed-for-the-death-of-oklahoma-teen/). On Twitter, most of the images being shared in recent days were taken from the small number of videos recorded years ago. A few others on YouTube and TikTok recorded videos of the stunt in the following years. [really did eat laundry detergent packets in 2018](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/us/tide-pod-challenge.html) after a similar “challenge” based on Tide pods took off. She said the volume of coverage could inadvertently make more people think they should pay attention to the issue and divert attention from more immediate health threats, such as Covid-19 and monkeypox. Responding to people on Twitter who appeared to be treating the concept, also called sleepy chicken, as a joke, took a certain step to raise awareness, but has it gone too far to be helpful at this point?” Professor Basch said. There have been no reports of hospitalizations or deaths related to NyQuil chicken, a tongue-in-cheek recipe that first surfaced in the notorious 4chan forum in 2017 and also received a The next day, a few TV stations reported on the F.D.A.’s advisory, repeating the assertion that a dangerous trend was playing out. “But it could also be very unsafe.”

The FDA warned against cooking chicken in NyQuil, as seen on TikTok. But is this a trend, or just one cursed video?

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Until the FDA posted about it, NyQuil chicken was not a social media trend — just a revolting shitpost from the halls of viral infamy.

[Benadryl challenge](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-warns-about-serious-problems-high-doses-allergy-medicine-diphenhydramine-benadryl), which encouraged people to take large doses of the allergy medicine to trigger hallucinations. [viral on Reddit](https://imgur.com/a/RuZG0). Because posts about NyQuil chicken are removed from TikTok for violating community guidelines, it’s hard to pinpoint what might have triggered the FDA’s statement. In January 2022, a few videos about the concoction sparked [news coverage](https://www.mic.com/life/nyquil-chicken-cold-remedy). As for who would ever attempt to cook chicken in cold medicine, the answer is, of course, 4chan. Now it’s trending on Twitter, and dozens of news articles — “Don't cook your chicken in NyQuil,”